Jessica Jackson
July 10, 2009 11:42 am
—
The 7,600 people who use the bridge over Lost Creek on State
Highway 33 no longer have to deal with delays because the construction
has been completed.
“It was just in need of repair,” said Anthony
Echelle, construction engineer for the Oklahoma Department of
Transportation Division Four out of Perry. “Sort of an upgrade to the
bridge.”
The bridge is located one and a half miles east of the U.S. 177 south junction on S.H. 33.
The
90-day project took an extra 17 days and was opened back to two lanes
in mid-May, Resident Engineer for the Stillwater Residency Joe Echelle
said.
The original bridge was built in 1969 for the total cost of
$116,000, but the repairs ended up costing the Oklahoma Department of
Transportation about $932,000, more than $100,000 higher than the
original estimate.
“Last year, they decided this bridge was due for
a deck replacement,” Joe Echelle said. “The beams that were underneath
it that were placed in 1969 were in relatively good condition.”
Once the deck came off, he said, workers noticed some excessive rust on the beams, and they decided to replace them.
“We noticed there were a few more problems we needed to fix while we were there,” he said.
He
said the bridge was not unsafe structurally but replacing the beams
when the deck was already off would be relatively cheap and convenient.
The
extra days and a few beam replacements was what cost the department
extra, he said. Each beam section cost about $45,000 to replace.
The highway was cut down to one lane while the construction took place, Joe Echelle said.
The
bridge was funded by State Bridge Rehabilitation Funds, which come from
taxes, he said. The department has a list of bridges that are rated
statewide, depending on factors like condition and the number of
vehicles that use it regularly.
By 2019, 10,000 vehicles are projected to use the bridge over Lost Creek each day, Joe Echelle said.
He said the department is working on or beginning a lot of projects.
“We’re getting our first round of stimulus money for this area,” he said.
Workers
this week began a full bridge construction on a bridge over Clear Creek
on 92nd Street northwest of Langston and Coyle, he said. The project
will take 180 days.
In Logan County, a full bridge construction on a
bridge of Blue Creek just two miles south of State Highway 105 started
this week as well. Like the one in Payne County, it is a 180-day
project.
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Posted on
Tue, July 14, 2009
by Crystal Drwenski